Hey friends! Jesse and Marissa back with another blog for you!

These days most of us are ordering everything and anything online. Did you know that you can get a bed delivered, a couch, a rug, groceries, a cactus, birthday candles, pinatas, and pretty much anything else you can think of! Have you always been an online shopper or has the pandemic ushered you into this way of life? Jesse has always online shopped but I, Marissa, personally hated it sooo much before the pandemic. The idea of waiting for something to come in the mail after having paid for it was terrifying! Honestly, I'm not even exaggerating. My friend told me to think of it as an unexpected gift because sometimes shipping would take so long that you'd forget you even ordered it. I felt like if I needed or wanted something then I should be able to get it now at a store. I didn't like the feeling of anxiety, checking the shipping details endlessly. Now, the story is a bit different.

I don't mind the wait. There isn't any bad anxiety, just hopeful anticipation. You see, when I order my groceries online or a birthday gift, I know it's something I can take care of, press order, pay, and then go about my day. My errand has been taken care of. I don't need to stress or waste any time doing it myself at the store. I don't need to call Amazon every day to see what the progress is or if they're working on it. I just know that they got it. Now, will it be delivered at the perfect time as I planned? No, sometimes 2-day shipping turns into 3 or 4. But I do know that when I get my delivery, it will be perfectly wrapped. I do know that when I get my grocery order at curbside it will be bagged and loaded into my trunk for me. It's a breath of fresh air and it gives me some peace as well as time to focus on other things that are important in the moment.

You know, while we wait, with God it kinda works the same. When you give your worries, dreams, desires, heartaches, and frustrations to Him in prayer, you feel a release. You get to trust Him the same way we trust Amazon to just deliver. Will we see God work in the perfect time that we expected? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. But you know that He will deliver and it will be so perfect for you in His time. Wrapped especially for you. You don't have to carry the load alone. You don't have to stress and obsess over it and ask God every day "did you do it yet". Simply place it in His hands and wait. Find comfort in the fact that God knows your heart and sees your needs and feels even closer to you in your relationship when you wait with Him. Don't find yourself in the waiting space with anxiety, as Pastor Shawn said. Don't resist that opportunity to trust God as you wait.

So what will you do as you wait? How will you make the most of your waiting time? Is there something that you're waiting for God to intervene in your life? Let's walk through it together as we learn more in these series without Pastors!

We love you and pray for you!
Jesse and Marissa